‘He said, “You are not going to believe this.” Sure enough, it was their bank deposit money.’

A panicked employee realised the mistake quickly and caught up with the couple in their home a few minutes away.

The pair handed the money back without hesitation.

‘The second that he said it was their deposit, my first thing was let’s get in the truck and take it back. There is no other way to have it. I couldn’t live with myself,’ said Stacye.

The owner and operator of the Lebanon Road branch of McDonald’s, Phil Gray, praised the couple for their honesty in returning the money and said the store was ‘grateful’. An internal investigation into the blunder has now been launched.